Steps:1. Sand wall until it's relatively smooth, and fill and sand any major wall imperfections. Most small imperfections will be hidden by the wonderful chalk art that will cover the walls. Or Mom and Dad can draw a strategically-placed flower or two to hide them!

2. Tape ceiling and trim to make a clean line where the chalk wall meets the ceiling, and to prevent chalk paint blobs from smearing on the trim when the five year-old jostles your elbow for the fifteenth time while pretending he's a rampaging T-rex.

3. Apply two coats of chalk board paint, allowing four hours of dry-time between coats. Don't forget to put the tarp under your work.

4. Once dry, cover the entire surface of the chalk board wall once with chalk and erase. I'm not sure what the point of doing this is, but it's part of the instructions on the paint can and I am too law-abiding to ignore this step.

5. Enjoy your chalk board wall! And be prepared to clean up a bit of chalk dust that gathers at the bottom of the wall. Really it's not as messy as you'd imagine. Kids don't like erasing once they've worked a while on a drawing.

Sources:Paint was purchased at our local paint store, and most of the other stuff I had on hand from other projects.